▎Measures, (verbal), 下xià, 趟tàng, 遍biàn, and 次cì (2)

 

Function Verb measures or classifiers, which usually appear after verbs, are used when the frequency or quantity of an action is expressed.

1 同學輕輕地打了他一下。

Tóngxué qīngqīng de dǎle tā yí xià.

His classmates hit him lightly. (i.e., tapped on/patted him)

2 泰國真好玩，我跟朋友去過兩趟。

Tàiguó zhēn hǎowán, wǒ gēn péngyǒu qùguò liǎng tàng.

Thailand is a lot of fun. My friend and I have been there twice.

3 那個電影我太喜歡了，所以看了好幾遍。

Nà ge diànyǐng wǒ tài xǐhuān le, suǒyǐ kànle hǎojǐ biàn.

I love that movie, so I watched it several times.

 

Structures When both verb classifiers and objects appear in a sentence, the position of the object can vary. See below.

1 a. 我存了兩次資料，怎麼不見了？(after a verb classifier)

Wǒ cúnle liǎng cì zīliào, zěnme bújiàn le?

I saved the information twice. How can it be gone?

b. 那份資料，我存了兩次，怎麼不見了？(moved to the front)

Nà fèn zīliào, wǒ cúnle liǎng cì, zěnme bújiàn le?

I saved the information twice. How can it be gone?

2 他打了我兩下。(before a verb classifier)

Tā dǎle wǒ liǎng xià.

He hit me twice.

3 他把書看了一遍就去睡覺了。(moved to become an object of 把)

Tā bǎ shū kànle yí biàn jiù qù shuìjiào le.

He read the book once before going to bed.

Questions：

1 你在台灣喝過幾次喜酒？

Nǐ zài Táiwān hēguò jǐ cì xǐjiǔ?

How many times have you been to a wedding receptions in Taiwan?

2 你昨天把第三課念過一遍了嗎？

Nǐ zuótiān bǎ dìsān kè niànguò yí biàn le ma?

Did you study chapter three (all the way through) once yesterday?

3 他很會打籃球，是不是參加過很多次籃球比賽？

Tā hěn huì dǎ lánqiú, shìbúshì cānjiāguò hěn duō cì lánqiú bǐsài?

He’s very good at basketball. He’s competed in many baseball games, right?

 

Usage High-frequency verb classifiers include 下xià (duration,frequency), 次cì (frequency), 趟tàng (frequency), and 遍biàn (frequency).

(1) 次 is the most commonly used verb classifier to refer to the frequency of an action, i.e. number of times. It can be used with all action verbs, e.g., 看kàn ‘look, watch, read’, 聽tīng ‘listen’, 吃chī ‘eat’, 去qù ‘go’, 問wèn ‘ask’, and 討論tǎolùn ‘discuss’.

(2) 趟 indicates one back-and-forth round for motion actions such as來lái ‘come’, 去qù ‘go’, 走zǒu ‘walk’, and 跑pǎo ‘run’.

(3) 遍 indicates the entirety of a process from beginning to end. Verbs that often go with 遍 include 看kàn ‘read’, 聽tīng ‘listen’, 念niàn ‘read’, 寫xiě ‘write’, 練習liànxí ‘practice’, and 唱chàng ‘sing’. For example,

這本書，我看了一次。(I read this book once.)

Zhè běn shū, wǒ kànle yí cì.

這本書，我看了一遍。(I read this book once from beginning to end.)

Zhè běn shū, wǒ kànle yí biàn.

(4) 下 can refer either to the repeating of an action, or indicate brevity, depending on the verb involved. The second meaning goes with 去qù ‘go’, 來lái ‘come’, 問wèn ‘ask’, 討論tǎolùn ‘discuss’, 等děng ‘wait’, where 一下yí xià cannot be changed to, say, 三下sān xià. The first meaning can go with 打dǎ ‘hit’, 踢tī ‘kick’, and 搖yáo ‘shake’ where 一下yí xià can be replaced by 兩下liǎng xià or 三下sān xià.